Page 43 of Gluttony
This was it. The moment of truth.
She’d been gathering clues regarding the Lazarus family sketchiness since Max went missing. At first, she’d kept telling herself, it was her CIA paranoia kicking in, but as the evidence mounted, she’d had no other option but to arrive at the indisputable truth. The Lazarus family were the Deadly Seven. They had to be. It was the only answer that made sense.
“I’ve been trying to contact you,” she stated.
He put his hands in his pockets and hunched. After a breath, he lifted his long-lashed gaze to meet hers. They were ten feet apart, yet she could feel his body heat across the expanse of the tiled floor. Her body hummed with awareness of him. It threw every demand out of her head.
“I wanted to thank you,” she added and took a step in his direction. “And I’m sorry I lost my cool, but it’s my job to keep you safe, and at the time, it hadn’t hit me yet that you obviously don’t need my help...” Her voice became breathy and trailed off when she caught the intense longing on the man’s face. His eyes were glued to her lips, lids lowered, mesmerized as she spoke. He wasn’t even listening to her words. It was distracting.
“Tony.”
His gaze snapped up to hers.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “This time, tell me the truth. No running away.”
All sultriness evaporated from his expression. He scratched his head. “I-ah-I.” Then he looked at his exposed hand, eyes wide.
Thin lines of blue glowed along the back of Tony’s hands, tracing the network of his veins like lace needlework. He appeared confused. Disorientated.Definitely not special effects.
At Hudson House, she’d accused him of making fun of her and had immediately regretted it. She’d overreacted. She’d never been in a life or death situation with someone she had feelings for, not for a long time. And she couldn’t deny it now. She had feelings for him. Big ones. The size that couldn’t be ignored. She’d been surprised at the genuine way he’d interacted with the kids at the sobriety house, even when he didn’t know she was watching. Tony Lazarus was just as charming off screen as he was on it. That morning had crossed a boundary for her, and she couldn’t go back. She saw a side of him he rarely showed anyone else. And if her suspicions were true about him, she’d only just scratched the surface of knowing him.
Bailey stepped forward.
“Tony,” she started, but he backed up.
“You shouldn’t come near me. Not like this.” He frowned and hunched over, shaking his head. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”
She took another step. “Like what? The glow? It’s okay, I’ve already seen it.”
He shook his head. The blue glow grew brighter, and a sheen of sweat broke out across his brow.
“You’re one of them, aren’t you?” She held her hand out, eyes already enthralled by the glittering blue threads now delineating his forearms, casting them into the perfect shape of masculine strength. “You’re one of the Seven. If I had to take a stab, with your excessive lifestyle, I’d guess Gluttony. Am I right?”
She thought it would calm him, or he’d feel like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, but he looked pained. Hurt. Like his world was tumbling into chaos, and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of kinship with him. She knew what it was like for events to spiral out of control. She still remembered how it felt to sit in the hospital, a police officer telling her that her best friend had died in the accident she’d caused as a teen. As adrunkteen.
She wanted to help him.
Most law enforcement officers thought vigilantes were a thorn in their sides, but Bailey had left the CIA for the same reasons people became vigilantes. Red tape stopped a lot of good being done and let many criminals go free. She’d been living a one-woman hopeless mission to reduce the hard drugs getting into the country. The CIA may color outside the lines of law, but with every bad guy they’d nabbed, it was always just a stepping stone to a larger criminal. Often those smaller criminals were let go becausethere are always bigger fish to fry.
“You can trust me, Tony. I’ll keep your secret.”
If he heard her words, she couldn’t tell, because the man’s eyes promptly rolled back in his head and he collapsed onto the tiled floor. For a few seconds, she stood there, unblinking.
Seeing a large, healthy man collapse was simply something she’d never seen. And when Tony began to shake and convulse, her heart leaped into her throat.
“Tony?” Her voice came out shaky and she inched closer. She kneeled and placed two fingers to his carotid. He sighed and his lashes fluttered at her contact. His trembling subsided, but he didn’t wake. His pulse was weak and erratic. A fever burned so hot she almost had to take her hand back.
Tony was in trouble. He wouldn’t want her to call an ambulance, but did she have the luxury not to do it?
Bailey searched the lobby for help, but it was empty. She looked through the glass doors to the street where people walked on the sidewalk. There were windows on either side of the lobby that peeked into the two establishments, Hell and Heaven. But from the way no one noticed them, the windows were one-way. She had to get him out of sight from the street until help arrived.
But first, she took her cell phone out and called Max. Then she placed the phone on the ground while she hooked her hands under Tony’s arms and dragged him toward the elevator. Good God, the big guy was heavy. Those muscles weren’t for show.
He groaned.
“Don’t worry Tony, I’m calling for help.” She ran the back of her fingers down his cheeks. His big hand came up and engulfed hers.
“No,” he mumbled. “I’m fine.”
